Innholdsfortegnelse for February 1, 2015 i PLAY

Good to see you again Mr Drake. And nice to make your acquaintance, er, the other Mr Drake. Oh, and welcome back Ryu and chums. Not forgetting you Mr Purple Tentacle, of course. Or you, sweary, scribbled bear… thing. Actually, forgive me if I can’t greet every new character featured in this issue – there are just too many. In the games writing industry, June is typically our Christmas. E3 (i.e. the world’s biggest gaming convention) is where all the big games are announced and where we get to corner the best developers on the planet for the latest info. But in the PlayStation Experience – a new, annual PlayStation-only event – we’ve got a new Christmas. One where we get to rub our faces in the first ever Uncharted…

LIGHT UP MY LIFE Oh Brothers, where Electronic Arts thou? The team behind OPM fave Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons has set up a new studio at EA, called Hazelight. Its first title was teased at The Game Awards, with a brief glimpse of two men riding in the back of a train’s open cargo container. We smell more twin-stick fun. DAWN BUT NOT OUT Eidos Montreal has revealed its new Dawn engine. The tech will be, “the cornerstone to the development of the Deus Ex Universe projects,” according to the studio. Dawn is a heavily tweaked version of the Glacier 2 engine that powered 2012’s murderously handsome Hitman: Absolution. Ooh, purdy. SIMPLY THE DEST Bungie plans to let you import your Destiny Guardian into the game’s sequel. Community…

4 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER Capcom is really getting into this remastering thing – Devil May Cry 4 is also getting the PS4 treatment, though that’s the full extent of the details so far. Don’t expect DmC’s host of new bits. 08 Got unfinished business with Dante? DmC: Definitive Edition is your chance to resolve it. On 17 March, the hack ‘n’ slasher returns with a billowing trench coat of improvements and additions to its new home on PS4. We caught up with development manager Dominic Matthews to get the specifics. “We reviewed all of the feedback on the game since its release and implemented the most wanted features and tweaks,” he begins. “The game now runs at 60fps and 1080p, and has [higher resolution] graphics.” You heard him: 60fps.…

WOLFENSTEIN AMONG US 2014 was surprisingly strong for under the radar treats. Chief among them had to be Machine Games’ Wolfenstein: The New Order. Despite a low-key build-up, it was one hell of a shooter. MICHAEL ANCEL’S NEW NATURAL WONDER WILL RUN WILD IN 2015… I don’t tend to get excited that much anymore – save for the sound of new comics falling through the letter box and the overdue news that Yakuza’s finally returning to the West – yet the trailer for Michel ‘Beyond Good & Evil’ Ancel’s new project still has me buzzing. Amid all the dystopian futures and hellish war zones, the image of a lush, untouched world couldn’t be more refreshing. Ancel’s track record for creating vibrant and charming IP is undeniable, and with the indie…

On a recent night out with a veteran developer to toast his latest iPhone game being approved by Apple, I quizzed him on the finer points of life as a mobile app creator. “What’s next?” I enquired, knowing how swiftly devs move from project to project. He laughed. “This, for another year.” That’s how making mobile games differs from console ones, he explained. Instead of instantly moving onto a sequel, the trend is to update and evolve long beyond a game’s release date. But why shouldn’t it be that way on console? Compare recent PS4 release WWE 2K15 with its iOS tag partner WWE SuperCard. The first costs £49.99, the second £0.00. One contains current rosters and constantly evolving gameplay modes, the other an incomplete selection of wrestlers and outdated…

1 Galahad is the main hero with the most admirable combination of chops and ‘tache. He’s a serious chap, boasting unflappable dedication. 2 Isabeau D’Argyll’s brother charged Galahad with keeping her safe while he mentors her. She’s the youngest member of The Order, but no pushover. 3 Marquis de Lafayette is the Frenchie of the group, acting as the comic foil. Most adept with heavier weapons, including the gaseous, murdery Thermite Gun. 4 Sebastian Malory is the leader of the group during the airship infiltration. Seb has a secret which he’s kept from Galahad. Who wants to bet it ain’t the good kind?…

Depending on how many obsolete gaming platforms reside in your loft, Tim Schafer’s name means one of two things to you. He’s either the guy on the credits list of some of the most hallowed point-and-click adventures of all time and a member of the LucasArts dream team which for a time seemed incapable of making a bad game. Or, if you’re young enough that the concept of pre-internet existence is chilling sci-fi to you, he’s the founder of Double Fine Productions and creative director behind Psychonauts, Stacking, Broken Age and other treasured, offbeat adventures. With the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita remastering of one of Schafer’s all-time greats – PC hit Grim Fandango – drawing near (it’s out 27 Jan), Double Fine also announced a Day Of The Tentacle…

SKIN DEEP Naughty Dog uses the program ZBrush to mould Drake’s skin. “You can see all the skin pores, all the veins,” says lead character artist Frank Tzeng. The level of detailing on his PS4 model is incredible. SLIM SHADER Realistic shaders bring Drake to life in a hyper-detailed way. “We add a lot of stuff to make him look worse,” says shader artist Yibing Jiang. Cue Trevor Philips-style cracked fingernails. Manicure? GET SHIRTY “We asked ourselves how could we make his shirt look alive and part of the environment,” says technical artist Ryan Trowbridge. Cue the billowing. “We went into that much detail. Take that, NeoGAF.” FACE OFF Thought Nate was expressive in Drake’s Deception? Pah. “In Uncharted 3, we had 120 possible faces poses,” reveals Trowbridge. “In Uncharted…

Over the past two decades we’ve seen incredible places and done impossible things. But through it all, it’s the characters who have stuck with us – the heroes and villains we still remember 20 years later. And so, to mark PlayStation’s impressive milestone in gaming history, we reached out to you, the readers of OPM, and asked you to vote to find the greatest 20 PlayStation icons of all time. Long may they reign, and here’s to the next 20 years… THE KEY TALENT AT A GLANCE 20 SEPHIROTH FIRST APPEARANCE FINAL FANTASY VII RELEASED 1997 FORMAT PS1 CREATED BY SQUARE KNOWN FOR Having only the second-least practical sword in Final Fantasy VII. First out of the gate from PS1’s seminal year, Final Fantasy VII’s arch-villain Sephiroth is more than…

YouTuber McDonnell shot to fame in 2007 through his video blog channel ‘charlieissocoollike’ and has over two million subscribers. He’s been active in music and filmmaking, but Volume is his videogame debut. OPM: Making the jump from YouTube to Volume means giving up the freedom to be your own director, and instead being part of someone else’s creative vision. How quickly did you adjust to that? Charlie McDonnell: It was a pretty quick transition, to be honest! While this is my first go at voice acting I have had a bit of experience working with directors in the past, and so long as I’m able to trust their instinct then I’m happy to follow them wherever they want to go. With Mike, I trusted him pretty much from the moment…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3/PS VITA ETA OUT NOW PUB RAIN GAMES DEV RAIN GAMES Puzzle-platformers these days often come with a non-linear setting and a distinctive gimmick that makes them ‘special’, and this latest offering from Norwegian studio Rain Games isn’t bucking the trend. Teslagrad’s leitmotif is the power of magnetism via a gauntlet that applies positive and negative charges. What might have been workaday platforming becomes charged science-puzzling. You use your new Mageneto-aping powers to attract blocks together to reveal new paths while polarising others to crush unsuspecting enemies. Most puzzles require a combo of platforming, teleportation (via boots you pick up in the first hour) and that all-important magnetism. Timing is everything and there’s a satisfying Prince Of Persia-esque balancing act required to nail the right…

TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 It’s a perpetual Harada haven for Dom Reseigh-Lincoln You can keep your life-altering Destiny playtimes. This partner-swapping, opponent-juggling brawler is still my favourite time sink. Despite a customisation option that would have RPG fans discombobulating with envy, I’m a fashion purist. There are no fairy wings and top hats on my fighting duo (Hwoarang and Marshall Law if you were curious), but that doesn’t stop my first opponent from rocking up in… oh God, is that Armor King ‘dressed’ as Batman? But where… where are his pants? *vomits* THE CREW Phil Iwaniuk earns the only platinums he’s ever going to get in Ubi’s open-road racer Since everyone else is hellbent on referencing Destiny, I might as well join them: The Crew is my grindy MMO, and…

Everyone can remember where they were when they witnessed certain key movie moments (the cinema or sofa, mostly). The twist in Fight Club. The Usual Suspects’ ending. When Willy jumped over that wall to freedom. And while the hinge point in Gone Girl may not go down in film history as being quite as iconic as any of these (particularly that last one), it’s as impactful and enjoyable a cinematic haymaker as there’s been recently. The extent of that impact depends on your familiarity with the source material, but however you approach it this is another piece of magnificence from David Fincher. Beautiful to look at, well-paced and expertly acted – only an outbreak of mass hysteria will prevent an Oscar nod for Rosamund Pike – the whole thing is…

INFO PUB THQ DEV DOUBLE FINE/ BUDCAT CREATIONS RELEASED 2005, PS2 GET IT NOW AMAZON, £10 NEED TO KNOW 1 Composer Peter McConnell also did Grim Fandango. 2 Minecraft’s Notch enquired about funding a sequel. 3 Read our interview with creator Tim Schafer on p46. Be thankful you can’t see us now. We’re sat in front of a keyboard, our head in our hands, clumps of hair strewn all over the desk. “Why the amateur dramatics?” you ask? Well, we’re faced with an almost impossible task: putting into words just how fundamentally amazing Psychonauts really is. Quite the conundrum considering we can’t prattle on for 20 pages. Right… we’ve popped our goggles on and pinned our best PSI-badges to our lapels… time to channel our inner ‘Naut and do the…

Phil Iwaniuk GAMES EDITOR OPM’s resident Doctor snapped on the rubber gloves before diving into our Volume feature, giving the game a full aural exam. Dave Meikleham NEWS EDITOR A human-shaped golem made from pure anger, high-level Destiny players recently discovered that Boy Fury IS the dark below. Dom Reseigh-Lincoln PRODUCTION EDITOR Energy drink addict Dom can’t wait for Evolve. He’s counting down the days ‘til he can hunt the Monster. Nathan Ditum GUEST WRITER Former OPM staff member Nath drove across the USA while reviewing The Crew. He claims it was the Maine highlight of his month.…

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL Rumours of a proper FFVII remake took hold at E3 2008, when Hashimoto acknowledged that Square recognised the fans’ desire for it – and said it was too busy on other projects at the time. 03 The good news: Final Fantasy VII is coming to PlayStation 4, everyone! Like we’d always dreamed! The good times are here to stay. Everything’s going to be great forever. Before you go slaughtering the local Flan population in celebration though, prepare yourself for the bad news… You see, when Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto took to the stage at The PlayStation Experience, in front of an enormous Final Fantasy VII logo on the big screen, and intoned, “Seventeen long years ago…” the crowd thought it could see where this was headed.…

9:46 Average K/D of the first Fireteam in the world to beat Destiny’s Crota Raid. 75% Audience increase from Spike VGX 2013 to The Game Awards 2014. 1080/30 The confirmed resolution (p) and framerate for Techland’s Dying Light. 100 Number of animals you need to off to fully upgrade your gear in Far Cry 4. $725,000 Cost of a Pegassi Zentorno from GTA V’s Legendary Motorsports store. 40 Minutes it takes to drive from Detroit to LA in The Crew. Sounds legit. 1.4GB The size of Driveclub’s hefty dynamic weather update. Seriously heavy rain. $3.29 Ubisoft’s NASDAQ share price on the Day of AC Unity’s release – down 9%.…

CHASING RAINBOWS Driveclub’s dynamic weather update looks wondrous and changes racing conditions on a dime. About time we had some good news from the beleaguered racer. RAID-Y TO RETURN We knew Lara couldn’t stay away for long – Rise Of The Tomb Raider’s exclusivity on a rival platform has a limited duration, Square Enix underlines again. YAK’S BACK Yakuza 5 is heading to the West for the first time. Now just don’t forget about the upcoming Yakuza Zero, Sega… SLACK MAGIC No one likes a tardy Witcher, Geralt. As our preview on p40 reveals, CD Projekt RED has decided to delay The Witcher 3 until May. FELINE QUEASY Tekken 7’s new character is a breakdancer in a corset, miniskirt and cat ears. We’ve got the full story on Harada’s new…

Hammer time I’m grumpy. Not in that cute, adorable way like a certain dwarf who shares the same name, but in that cranky, cantankerous way, like an old man who’s spent too many years telling people to get off his lawn. This surliness is why I really love Meiks’ new column. I hope it gets a full page eventually, delving deeper into his aggravations of how, when he was your age, he never had these newfangled games and his only toy was called ‘outside’. Now, turn down that racket, I’m trying to get some sleep. Fabian Schoonraad via email We’re quite partial to Meiks’ new column ourselves, although if he gets any more surly we’re going to have to start sedating him. He’d say thank you himself, but he’d probably…

Asinine statement alert: Grand Theft Auto V’s world map is really fantastic. You and I have both spent enough time throwing Chop’s ball into oncoming traffic under the setting Los Santos sun to feel that. I don’t need to tell you why it’s fantastic. So instead I’ll tell you why, despite my best efforts, I still feel so distanced from it after playing 40+ hours on both PS3 and PS4 versions. I thought the addition of a first-person viewpoint to the current-gen version would remedy the detachment I felt towards that bustling city, the constant sense that I was an unwelcome stranger no matter how hard I tried to acclimatise. Looking at GTA V through the prism of the central trio was the source of my odd sensation, I figured,…

1 54 DECK PICK-UP Everybody who attended the two-day PlayStation Experience event got to take part in a game of cards. Namely, building a deck. Sony printed 54 different bundles of PlayStation-themed cards (before you ask, there were jokers) and placed them on demo booths all over the convention hall, waiting for people to snatch them up. Sadly we only got ten. 2 HAPPY CHAPPY Two weeks before the incredible laser-powered Chevrolet Chaparral 2X Vision GT concept car was added to Gran Turismo 6, Sony shipped in the ‘real’ deal for the show – along with cockpit booths and Thrustmaster T500RS wheels for attendees to get to grips with the virtual one. 3 65 MAN’S SKY One big piece of news to emerge from PSX 2014 involves instrumental band 65daysofstatic,…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 27 MARCH / PUB SONY / DEV FROM SOFTWARE If nothing else, (aside from being bloody brilliant) Dark Souls loves repetition. Wait! Relinquish your flaming extendable staff. We mean that in the nicest fashion possible. From Software’s past hack ’n’ slash masterpieces revel in making you master areas over and over again with surgical precision. The Souls series has always wallowed in death, using each demise to teach you its exquisite combat mechanics through trial and error. Well, that’s about to change somewhat. As a certain chain-smoking Jurassic Park worker would quip, “hold onto your (bleeding) butts.” Enter the Chalice Dungeon: a quasi-procedurally generated underground area of Yharnam that’s individual to each Bloodborne player. “You might see similarities with the old roguelikes,” said director Hidetaki Miyazaki…

1989 INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE – THE ACTION GAME • Schafer gets his break in the industry as a tester in the 8-bit era, and his first credit on a game that really pushed the boundaries of how many words you could fit on a game cartridge. It doesn’t review well – making it something of a rarity on the portfolio. 1993 DAY OF THE TENTACLE • With adventure game royalty such as The Secret Of Monkey Island and its sequel already on his résumé as co-writer/ programmer, Schafer then moves onto another SCUMM engine-powered classic-to-be – Day Of The Tentacle. This time he co-directs with Dave Grossman, using the latter’s ex-girlfriend and a Megadeth roadie of Schafer’s acquaintance as inspiration for the game’s cast. It’s a combination…

01 Look at his face. LOOK AT IT! While it’s not as detailed as the E3 trailer model, there’s no denying this is a considerable step up in character quality from The Last Of Us Remastered. 02 Ooh, those are some delicious looking scuttling cave crabs. The Last Of Us had some lovely critters (remember the deer?), and we hope to see Uncharted 4 get in on the animal act. 03 Nathan’s new metal pick tool absolutely transforms his platforming skills. Seeing him leap off a cliff and ram the pick into rock (a manual button press) to avoid falling is heart-in-mouth stuff. 04 That. Vista. Looking out onto the island’s jutting rocks, it’s reassuring to see Uncharted hasn’t lost its talent for showcasing stunning views. Get ready to spam…

Show Mike Bithell a square, and he’ll show you a beautiful, flawed individual with hopes, dreams and the ability to do a small jump. Through his debut game Thomas Was Alone – which he developed, appropriately enough, alone – he made a name for himself as a creator able to divine enjoyment and surprise from ostensibly simple concepts. The tongue-in-cheek voiceover provided by Danny Wallace turned a game about making blocks jump over other blocks into a kind of geometric pantomime with a cast of characters twice as memorable as those of Watch Dogs or Killzone: Shadow Fall. So what happens when Bithell allows himself a bit more complexity in his game design – when he lets others into his development process, increasing resources in order to realise a grander…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 ETA OUT NOW PUB SWITCHBLADE MONKEYS DEV SWITCHBLADE MONKEYS As an online-only twin-stick shooter, you must always leave the house with a stable, healthily populated server. Secret Ponchos’ developers know exactly where they left their stability: on the kitchen table next to the satisfying gunplay. The game’s cleverest ideas are buried under a glut of technical niggles. Could the yawning stretches of time as you wait for a match be evocative of the slow-burning westerns of Sergio Leone? Well they’re not. Worse yet, I encountered game-breaking glitches in a high proportion of the games I did get into, with players warping back and forth across the screen as I tried to nail them with a revolver. The five playable classes are satisfyingly varied1 –…

If only Ubisoft were a person. Were the publisher a physical entity with fleshy human parts (rather than a massive multinational conglomerate), I’d relish the chance to be locked in a small dark room with that individual. What would follow would involve GBH… most likely revolving around beatings to the scrotal region via boiled clootie dumpling. Ubi is currently as popular as a SHAT SANDWICH accompanied by a tasty side salad of glass shards. For a business that’s released such cherished titles as Beyond Good & Evil, Rayman Legends and Far Cry 3 that simply shouldn’t be the case. It wasn’t too long ago the French company was being rightly praised for nurturing pioneering new IP and progressive games. Now, though? Head onto the internet gaming forums and you might…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 PUB EA DEV BIOWARE REVIEW ISSUE #105, 8/10 With your role as Grand Inquisitor requiring the hours it does in DA:I’s single-player (haven’t rage demons heard of flexi-time?), its online counterpart needs a very good reason to lure you away from your duties. Instead of that good reason, it offers up a coarse leather glove to the face. This is grindy, uninspired and tacked-on multiplayer 101, removing literally every element but the combat and demanding that you sink dozens of hours into a fresh character who has no bearing on your solo game. They’re also useless against all but the first two waves of enemies in each level until you invest the required hours of misery. Don’t worry though – there’s virtual currency available…

FINAL FANTASY V Out-hipster your FF-loving mates by going beyond vintage and helping the Tycoon King deal with a shattered crystal. It’s always the bloody crystals, isn’t it? CENTIPEDE The village (a generous description of the green expanse) is being overrun by creepy-crawlies! Pew-pew them all to kingdom come and appease the arcade overlords. GUILTY GEAR Some people call this the best 2D fighting game to ever grace PS1. Some other people say tinfoil hats stop the government reading your thoughts. Who to believe? FUTURE COP: LAPD Games editor Phil has many fond memories of this mech-based law enforcement classic. The entire rest of the world remains callously unmoved by it. MAGIC CARPET A frenetic shooter dressed in family-friendly clothing. Oh, it’s about sorcerers, mana and black arts is it?…

THE RIOT CLUB 19 JAN Based on the acclaimed play Posh, this cynical drama sees two Oxford students tear up the rule book in a world of money and privilege. THE DROP 20 JAN a gritty storyline, moody cinematography and a puppy licking Tom Hardy’s face, The Drop is everything you could want in a crime drama. FURY 27 JAN Brad Pitt leads a five-man tank crew into Nazi Germany. An intensely violent glimpse into humanity’s heart of darkness. MAPS TO THE STARS 02 FEB Don’t let the title fool you into thinking this is an Interstellar-esque, sci-fi epic. Think wicked Hollywood social satire instead. LIFE AFTER BETH 02 FEB Zom Rom Com = Matthew Gray Gubler enjoying a second chance at love after his girlfriend rises from the dead.…

STEP 1 BACK UP YOUR DATA ON A USB DRIVE So you’re either hitting the capacity limit of your PS4’s 500GB hard drive with all those downloadable titles, or you’re a tech snob for whom anything less than solid-state storage is basically the Stone Age. You want to replace the stock drive with something bigger (a 1-2TB HDD) or something faster (as capacious an SSD as you can afford), but you simply don’t know how. The doc has great news: it’s easier than a thoracic aortic dissection repair. And absolutely every other heart surgery procedure, come to think of it. There are a couple of things you’ll need to prep beforehand: a Phillips-head screwdriver and a USB drive. With the latter connected to your console, go to ‘Settings/Application Saved Data…

1“THINK OF IT LIKE AN IMPORTANT HERITAGE CATHEDRAL GETTING A LOVELY SANDSTONE SCRUB. ONLY WITH MORE GUT-SPILLING AND DISMEMBERMENT, TO KEEP THE PUNTERS NICE AND HAPPY. 2“COMBAT IS INTUITIVE, AND IF YOU VISUALISE QUARTER-CIRCLES WHEN I WRITE ‘HADOUKEN’, YOU’LL BE RIGHT AT HOME WITH THE FIGHTING, TOO.” 3“THE TEAM CHATTER OF A TIER 1 UNIT MAKES IT FEEL MORE LIKE A JAMES BOND FILM. WITH ADDED BEARDS. 4“TOYING WITH TIKI-TAKA TACTICS ENABLES YOU TO KILL THE PACE OF A PASS DEADER THAN EMILE HESKEY’S FOOTY CAREER. OUCH.”…

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO V The magic of our favourite PS3 game’s reappearance on current-gen hardware isn’t in the improved textures, shinier cars or even the brilliantly executed new first-person mode. It’s in the way each addition and improvement combines to enthral and seduce you all over again to sink another blissful 50 hours into Los Santos without it ever feeling like a re-run. Also: an unhealthy dose of first-person cat-stomping. 2 THE LAST OF US REMASTERED Like a full-bodied Stilton, this modern masterpiece just gets stronger with age. A starkly brutal, emotionally honest take on the end of the world, Naughty Dog’s stealth shooter is quite simply one of the best written, most wryly-paced videogames ever. 3 DESTINY Blurring the lines between single-player shooting and co-op camaraderie, Bungie has…

1 GRAND THEFT AUTO V No game could live up to the pre-release hype that surrounded Rockstar’s latest open-world effort, and yet somehow expectations were surpassed by the phenomenal final product. The largest entry in the series is also one of the most ambitious games ever, but its fusion of thrilling missions, entertaining characters and scathing satire looks effortless. There can be no better way to bring a generation to a close. 2 UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES The game that sparked a million mancrushes, with a perfectly pitched script, crunchy combat and set-pieces like no other. In three words: unprecedented. Unequalled. Uncharted. 3 RED DEAD REDEMPTION A near-perfect open-world fusion of engaging storytelling, truly compelling characters and a living environment ripe for experimentation. No sandbox since has got us quite…

THE SOUND OF STATIC It wasn’t all new games, of course: among the fresh looks at existing titles, No Man’s Sky teased some new gameplay footage and announced that rock band 65daysofstatic will be writing an album-length soundtrack. “STREET FIGHTER V BEING CONSOLE-LOCKED TO PS4 IS A BIG COUP.” 01 Gamescom? E3? What were they? Forgive our affected amnesia, we’re just trying to pull ourselves together after no fewer than 32 new game announcements broke during and around Sony’s PlayStation Experience, held at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas between December 5-7. And considering we also got to see Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End running live on-stage, Street Fighter V’s full reveal, and confirmation that it’ll be exclusive to PS4 and PC… well, you can forgive us for letting…

GREEN WITH ENVY The following sentence is not a typo. On 10 December, Sony sold 94 20th Anniversary Edition PS4s for just £19.94 at a PlayStation ‘94 shop in Bethnal Green. A further 100 were sold at £399. “THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION PS4 MIMICS THE ‘ORIGINAL GREY’ FINISH OF THE FIRST PLAYSTATION.” 04 What do you get the PlayStation fan who has everything? That’s right: a full-size Nathan Drake doll with ruffable hair, wet shirt and fully poseable arms. Stupid sexy Nate. The next thing you get them is an incredible special edition PlayStation 4 that might be the coolest bit of Sony fan service ever. BIRTHDAY BASH The 20th Anniversary Edition PS4 mimics the ‘Original Grey’ finish of PS1, which celebrated its landmark birthday on 3 December. To honour…

HAPPY NEW GEAR This is the third instalment of Metal Gear Online. The first was included with MGS3: Subsistence and the second debuted with MGS4. Old Snake’s MGO shut in 2012. 06 Tactical Team Operations, you say? Don’t mind if we do. Developed by Kojima Productions’ new LA studio, Metal Gear Online acts as the multiplayer component of The Phantom Pain, coming bundled as part of the stealth title’s overall package rather than being peddled as a separate entity. And what truly lovely Koj touches await your online Snakes and Ocelots. Electromagnetic grenades! Plush husky distractions! Rideable mini-Metal Gears! Shut up and take the deeds to our house. Revealed during December’s inaugural Game Awards, MGO’s debut trailer was unveiled by Kiefer Sutherland (aka the larynx of Big Boss), Hideo Kojima…

Expanded Dark Souls II re-issue Scholar Of The First Sin will allegedly up the game’s co-op player count to six when it arrives for PS3 and PS4 in April. Praise The Sun, indeed. Level-5 and Square Enix are said to be making a new JRPG for PS4. It looks like an HD remake of the original Borderlands is coming to PS4, vault hunters. Sony is getting ready to patch in friend login notifications for PS4 in an upcoming firmware update. A sequel is in the pipeline for OPM’s 2014 GOTY winner, Alien: Isolation. It still won’t feature pulse rifles.…

@WEREZOMPIRE The @PlayStation experience was one of the best conventions we’ve ever exhibited at. @TIMOFLEGEND Wait, ‘monumentous’ isn’t really a word? I feel like I’ve lost an old friend. @AMBOYES My three year-old son referred to Pluto as, “The Little Big Planet.” How do we make this official? @MIKEJMIKA RIP Ralph Baer, father of console gaming. The very definition of inventor. @BIGC_33 Man, the PlayStation Experience was incredible. Thank you to all our devs and fans. @M4GICFE4THER Awesome. :) Born ready for Bloodborne. :) TROLL OF THE MONTH @GOLAZODAN I think that Drawn To Death game looks kinda bad, mainly because I never draw sociopathic things. @CHRISPKZKAZAMA Caved in and bought the Uncharted 4 shirt from the @Naughty_Dog shop. I don’t regret my purchase. @BLADEBEARER64 Enjoying playing Far Cry 4…

Hey bro, do you know pro wrestling is fake? Of course you do, you’re no jabroni. And sorry for calling you bro. But do you know who doesn’t know pro wrestling is fake, apparently? Every wrestling game developer ever. Let me explain. WWE games fundamentally misunderstand pro wrestling. They treat it like a 3D beat-’em-up, a kind of Dead Or Alive with greasepaint, using destructively poncey attacks to knock out your opponent. In ‘real life’ pro wrestling, beneath the aggressive facade, matches are all about careful co-operation; in videogame pro wrestling there is no facade besides the need to beat your opponent. You can’t begrudge the decision to keep kayfabe (the storylines and character lore of wrasslin’) intact – suspension of disbelief is, of course, crucial to going along with…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA SUMMER / PUB SONY / DEV SUPERMASSIVE GAMES Oh, videogame horror characters: what are you like? Name the one thing you should never do on the anniversary of a dearly departed pal if you’re a rowdy, randy teen stuck in their own fright flick. That’s right – absolutely bloody anything. Don’t pop out to the greengrocers for milk. Don’t decide tonight would be a really lovely time for a stroll down Murder Alley. And definitely don’t vacation with seven other equally rowdy, randy teens in a creepy cabin in the woods. Really, every character here deserves to be ruthlessly butchered by old Clown-Faced McGee peering out at the top there. If it’s not entirely clear by now, Until Dawn absolutely loves Saw. While its killer may…

BLOODBORNE Is your quaint little hometown stuck in a murky, Neo-Victorian rut? Fire up this top-down tactical architect sim and banish those Gothic spires to the Cradle Of Filth T-shirt whence they came. Think DIY: SOS meets an Edgar Allan Poe poem. FORMAT PS4 ETA 27 MAR RAVEN’S CRY You thought life as a pirate was nasty – try being a handyman at sea. This indie roguelike is all about keeping your galleon afloat, whether it be fixing leaks, dousing fires or polishing the occasional skull. FORMAT PS4/PS3 ETA 30 JAN RUGBY 15: PRO12 Finally… finally… a game that captures the intense rivalry and extreme tactics of pro groundskeeping. Start out trimming the verge in a tiny hamlet before taking on the ultimate test: tending a field during a rugby…

DYING LIGHT FORMAT PS4 / ETA 30 JAN PUB WARNER BROS DEV TECHLAND Alongside news it’ll be running at 1080p and 30fps on PS4, Warner Bros also unleashed more details on the season pass that’s accompanying its parkour zombie fest. Priced at $19.99 (roughly £13) you get a new map, two new hardcore missions, three special skins and four new guns. Content will be released periodically, with Cuisine and Cargo, the aforementioned ‘hardcore’ missions, arriving next month alongside the game itself. Our hands-on last month also uncovered the need to pace yourself and ration stamina when in combat, so best start working on that cardio. BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2 JUN PUB WARNER BROS / DEV ROCKSTEADY After two parts full of Arkham Knight teases and tank-based…

Nathan Drake – Uncharted Despite the actor’s myriad high profile game performances, it’s his turn as adventurer (and mass murderer) Nate that will forever define North. It’s the balance of witty banter, wide-eyed wonder and gravity that endures. The Penguin – Batman: AC While North’s affected Landaan tones won’t fool those born within earshot of the St Mary-le-Bow bells, his East End thug voicing of The Penguin certainly adds to the grit and grimace of Arkham City’s criminal element. Capt Walker – Spec Ops: TL Gruff, seen-some-stuff military man Walker has the most of Nolan North’s natural voice among his many performances. His character’s also a nifty subversion of Nathan Drake, the quippy and remorseless killer. Joel – The Last Of Us You can hear the pain and self-inflicted detachment…

Comedian, writer, actor, presenter and film-maker Wallace has been accidentally starting cults and deliberately founding countries in his living room since the late ’90s. Volume is his second collaboration with Mike Bithell. OPM: We’re seeing an increasing number of well-known actors taking on videogame work – what was it about the medium that drew you in initially? Danny Wallace: I’ve always liked videogames – I worked for a number of games magazines in my teenage years and that was the greatest job in the world at the time. But I had no plans to get into this line of work. I was simply approached, said yes, and had fun with it. It was like that with Ubisoft [Wallace voices Shaun Hastings in the Assassin’s Creed games] and it was like…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS VITA ETA OUT NOW PUB MESSHOF DEV MESSHOF Everything about Nidhogg seems simple, from the retro lo-fi graphics and basic two button controls to the premise of the game itself – down your opponent in 1v1 sword duels to advance through arenas until you reach the far end, where your reward for victory is to be consumed by the titular serpent1 in front of a baying crowd. However, once you start playing you discover a surprising depth to the action. You can raise and lower your sword to initiate different attacks, disarming your foe if you correctly time a parry. You can duck and sweep the leg, or leap in the air and perform a divekick. You can throw your rapier for a ranged…

APPY DAYS Another online element brings the Companion App into play. Yup, those blue chests on the map are only unlocked by completing a series of crappy touchscreen Glyph puzzles. INFO FORMAT PS4 PUB UBISOFT DEV UBISOFT MONTREAL REVIEW ISSUE #105, 6/10 Launching with a surplus of both potential, absurd and more than occasionally game-breaking bugs, Unity has become Parisian Marmite. Perhaps something you’d put on a croissant? I digress. Despite having a lot going for it – and I’m certainly more forgiving regarding its flaws than editor Matt – Unity has become the hooded poster child for the damaging fallout of a development process guillotined brutally short by a yearly release date. It’s called Unity for a reason though – how does the online play out? Well, just like…

INFO FORMAT PS4 ALSO ON PS3 PUB UBISOFT DEV UBISOFT MONTREAL REVIEW ISSUE #105, 9/10 Riding a tandem bicycle built for somewhere in the region of one-to-three people. Downing shots. Setting a group of honey badgers on fire. There are many activities in life that are best enjoyed with friends. Far Cry 4 is most certainly one of these, thanks to an engaging co-op that lets you sample the majority of its Himalayan hilarity with a pal. Though you can’t co-op the game’s story missions, every side-quest, hunting objective and race can be completed with a PSN ally by your side; especially useful when taking down one of FC4’s daunting forts. The Battles Of Kyrat 5v5 multiplayer is less successful – the team deathmatch action suffers from overly empty maps…

BORDERLANDS: TPS – THE HOLODOME ONSLAUGHT Gaige and Axton show their faces in this new story DLC and get Athena to retell the story of the base game – in bloody, and totally unreliable fashion. It also adds new weapons and raises the level cap. JUST DANCE 2015 – NEW SONGS Leave your dignity at the door and limber up those limbs – Funhouse by P!nk, Want U Back by Cher Lloyd, C’mon by Ke$ha, Kiss You by One Direction (yes!) and We Can’t Stop by Miley Cyrus all make the cut in Ubi’s latest song drop, with tracks ranging from £1.69 to £2.49. WARFRAME – ARCHWING DLC The titular Archwing stars in Warframe’s biggest update ever, bringing high-speed space combat to the inert space table. There’s also a new…

INFO PUB SONY DEV 4J STUDIOS/ MOJANG RELEASED 2014, PS4 GET IT NOW AMAZON, £12.85 WHAT? Ah, the little game that could. Starting out as a PC pet project for Swedish developer Markus ‘Notch’ Persson in ‘09, Minecraft became a gaming phenomenon, porting to every platform on Earth. Kitchen sink edition? WHO? Dom Reseigh-Lincoln is more of a destroyer than a builder. He’s far more inclined to blow up someone else’s creations – save the odd bout of Rollercoaster Tycoon as a tiddler. Urgh, do I really have to do this, guys? Bar an evening with Destiny (yes, there actually are people out there who don’t base their entire lives around it), few games bore me as much as Mine-bloody-craft. Perhaps it’s the whole blocky, retro look (is it meant…

MIRROR’S EDGE Dave Meikleham loves taking allthe leaps of Faith in DICE’s fabulous free-runner Hand in hand through their parkour life… oh, hello there. Sorry – you stumbled upon me mid-tenuous Blur punning. Mirror’s Edge is such an easy sell, I can spend half this entry prattling on about Britpop lyrics. I don’t think I’ve ever played another game that captures the same bewitching sense of inertia as Faith’s incredible platformer. A mesmerising one-of-a-kind experience. RED DEAD REDEMPTION Ain’t no Marston high enough for all-round prairie perfectionist wayne Fletcher A beautiful open-world, ace characters, great combat and memorable missions. This was the first game I ever reached 100% completion on – I rarely feel absorbed by a game enough to do that after the story credits roll. And what an…

1 VELOCITY 2X A ludicrously enjoyable puzzle/platformer hybrid that should come with a health warning. So joyous is the side-scroller’s twin-stick teleporting, there’s a danger you may well grin your face clean off the bone. Masterfully designed, with arguably the best control scheme on PS Vita, Velocity 2X is utterly essential. 2 PERSONA 4: GOLDEN This thoughtful and unique JRPG epic gives you another stab at high school – only this time with intrigue and superpowers instead of nerves, acne and an unpredictable vocal register. 3 FEZ Gomez charms you instantly with his perspective-shifting puzzles and pin-sharp pixel-art, then blows your mind with a world of secret languages, hidden areas and beguiling background tunes. 4 VIRTUE’S LAST REWARD This visual novel/puzzler just gets better over its 40 hours. The dialogue’s…

1. One person designed all 200 dungeons in TES IV: Oblivion. 2. The original GTA started life as a racing game called Race’n’Chase. However, an AI glitch created overly aggressive police cars that rammed players off the road. Testers enjoyed the ‘bug’ so much it became a feature and the game was redesigned. 3. Devil May Cry was originally a Resident Evil spin-off. 4. The PlayStation began as a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo to make a CD add on for the SNES. Sony announced the ‘Play Station’ at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show only for Nintendo to betray them by announcing a deal with Philips for a peripheral called the CD-i. Sony went solo and the rest is history. 5. The only reason Sony continued work on the ‘Play…